


what a coincidence!

by aitomation



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Kaiju, Autistic Hermann Gottlieb, Awkward Flirting, Discussions of Godzilla, Doctor's Office, Fashion Hermann, Gen, Gottbleed Week, Gottbleed Week 2, M/M, Medical Doctor Newt, Meet-Cute, Newt is a doctor, Nosebleed, Trans Hermann Gottlieb, Trans Newton Geiszler, brief mention of a coffee shop date, mentions of tattooing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 19:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18058628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aitomation/pseuds/aitomation
Summary: The companion piece to my Gottbleed Week 2 drawing. A short AU where Newt and Hermann meet in person at 24, not because of giant monsters coming out of the ocean, but because Hermann gets a nosebleed all over his cute sweater.





	what a coincidence!

 

 The first thing Newt noticed about the guy in front of him on the sidewalk was his obnoxiously yellow sweater. The second was that it matched his equally yellow shoes; the third that he was wearing striped socks under cuffed jeans. The fourth, when the guy turned his head to look out at the street signs, was that his nose was bleeding, dripping onto the collar of his bright-ass sweater.

“Hey dude, you’re bleeding,” Newt said, pointing to his own nose. The stranger turned, looking startled for half a second before he rolled his eyes and pressed the back of his free hand to his nose. He blindly stumbled back until he hit the brick wall of the building behind them and gracelessly slid to the ground. Newt made a noise and crouched next to him. “Are you like, okay?” He winced as he said it. The guy glared up at him, and Newt figured it would probably have been much more intimidating without the frankly alarming amount of blood streaming out of his nose onto the back of his hand.

“Perfectly fine,” the stranger snapped. His voice was accented, muffled and nasally behind his hand. Newt worried his lower lip between his teeth, thinking. When he came to a decision, he shuffled around until he was next to the guy and plopped himself down on the ground.

“I’m Newt,” Newt said, waving one hand.

“That’s nice,” the guy said, obviously annoyed. He shifted his grip on the shaft of his cane.

“I’m a doctor,” Newt continued. “And you look super pale, so I’m gonna sit here until you look better. You want some crackers or something?” He startled rifling through his bag without waiting for an answer, because the guy really did look like he needed it. When Newt turned back toward him, all the fight had left his posture. He was slumped against the wall, staring up at the sky.

“That would be nice, thank you,” he said quietly. Newt held out a sandwich bag of crackers and made a noise to get his attention. “I am Hermann, by the way. I am also a doctor,” he said as he turned his head and took the bag.

“Well, Hermann,” Newt started, unable to keep the smile off his face, “you gotta pinch the bridge of your nose and lean your head forward. You don’t want the blood draining into your throat.” Hermann made a sound of disgust and slowly moved to follow Newt’s instructions. “Lemme see if I have a tissue,” he added. “Don’t want you to ruin your sweater.”

“That isn’t really necessary, um…” Hermann trailed off. Newt looked up from his bag to see Hermann looking embarrassed. He quickly looked away when Newt met his eyes. “I’m afraid I’ve forgotten your name.” Newt laughed.

“That’s a first!” he said, excited. “It’s Newt. Short for Newton, but Newt’s fine.”

“Well, Newton, I am quite adept at removing blood stains from clothing. It should be alright. Thank you though.” Newt made a sympathetic sound. His hands fluttered in his lap.

“This happen often?”

“This past week or so yes. I’m having one or more a day, since this happened.” Hermann pointed at his left eye, the brown of which was marred with red.  

“Oh hey! I have that too,” Newt said. He pointed to his own left eye, which had the same angry red ring. “Turned red like two weeks ago. Doctor said it was probably from a seizure, which I definitely didn’t have.”

“I don’t think I’ve had a seizure,” Hermann said, his brow furrowing. “I don’t remember having one. Though, that is probably more worrying.” He pursed his lips and looked at the ground pensively. Newt quickly looked away and chewed on his lower lip for a second.

“Have you ever seen Godzilla?” Newt asked suddenly. He turned his whole body to face Hermann and pulled one of his legs up to his chest. Hermann blinked once, twice.

“I don’t believe so.”

“Oh man, it’s such a good movie. I mean, it’s old and cheesy now, but I love it so much. I’m getting a tattoo of the original Godzilla design today actually.” Newt pointed to his exposed forearm. “Right here. That’s where I’m heading actually.” Hermann hummed.

“As fascinating as that is, Newton, I really need to go,” he said, sounding genuinely apologetic. “I’m afraid I’ll miss my doctor’s appointment if I wait any longer.”

“Oh, well, are you feeling any better? Because honestly, you still look a little green.” Hermann pushed himself up off the ground, leaning heavily against the wall.

“I’m sure I’ll be fine Newton. I’ve had far worse,” he said, dabbing his nose a few more times with his hand.

“Yeah probably, but I don’t know how I feel about-hey!” Newt cut himself off, waving a hand excitedly. He pulled himself off the ground and sidled up next to Hermann again. “Why don’t I go with you? If you don’t mind some company, I mean,” he quickly amended. Hermann blinked again. Newt could see him working his jaw as he thought of what to say. He was just about to retract the offer and leave Hermann alone forever when Hermann replied.

“I think I would like that Newton. I really don’t feel well.” Newt contained his internal burst of happiness to a little flutter of his fingers as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“Cool! I’ll get you safely to your destination then.” Hermann smiled a little.

“Thank you,” he said, patting his pockets absently.

Newt entertained Hermann with a dramatic retelling of the original _Godzilla_ movie on the walk to the Doctor’s office, and he was halfway through the second movie when Hermann stopped in front of a large office building.

“This is the place then?” Newt asked. “Mind if I come up with you?” Hermann looked moderately startled.

“Not at all. Though I don’t want to keep you. I’m not sure how long this will take.” Newt waved him off.

“It’s fine. I’ve got time.” He followed Hermann through the sliding glass doors, and took in his surroundings as best he could while keeping pace with Hermann on the way to the elevators. “Fancy place,” he said in a stage whisper, trying not to disturb the silence of the lobby. Hermann chuckled a little as he pressed the call button for one elevator.

“It hosts many different offices. This clinic was recommended by my usual physician.” They filed into the elevator and Newt shimmied in place while Hermann pressed the button for their floor. He was quiet for about eight seconds, before he turned to Hermann again.

“Not your doctor then? Just a doctor?” Hermann made a noise of acknowledgment.

“Yes. I couldn’t very well see my doctor. He’s all the way in London.” Newt whistled theatrically.

“You live in England?” he asked, following Hermann out of the elevator when the doors slid open.

“I do. Though I’ve been looking for a change of pace. Hence my presence here.” Hermann led Newt down a few winding hallways before slowing his pace to look at the signs more closely. He groped blindly around his chest before looking down in frustration and making a disappointed sound. Newt tried to stifle a laugh. This dude was incredibly endearing, even with dry blood on his face. “I believe it’s this one,” Hermann sighed. He wrenched the door open and gestured Newt in with his head.

“You’re thinking about moving to Boston?” Newt asked, not even trying to hide the excitement in his voice. He slid into a cushy waiting room chair and bounced his legs while he waited for Hermann to finish signing in at the desk. When Hermann eased himself in the seat next to him, Newt repeated himself. “You’re thinking about moving to Boston?”

“It is an option. One of a few. I had hoped to see more of the city, check accessibility and the like, but instead I have to deal with this.” He gestured vaguely but Newt nodded.

“Yeah, it’s super weird. I hope you have better luck with your doctor than I had with mine,” Newt laughed. Hermann nodded once, very seriously.

“Thank you Newton. I do as well.” Newt bit his lip. _Endearing_ was rapidly turning to _cute_. Hermann started working on a Sudoku puzzle on his phone, and while they waited Newt discovered that Hermann made some more _cute_ faces when Newt solved the puzzle over his shoulder. Newt was almost disappointed when Hermann’s name was called; he was kind of enjoying arguing in hushed tones about group puzzle solving etiquette.

“Thank you for accompanying me, Newton,” Hermann said as he stood. “This was quite… enjoyable.” Newt smiled.

“No problem man! I hope it goes well.” Hermann’s mouth quirked up slightly at the corners before he turned sharply and followed the nurse through a door.

Newt blew out a breath as he watched Hermann disappear down the hallway. He drummed his hands on his lap. He shifted in his seat. He thumbed through all the magazines on the side table. He wandered down the hallway to find the bathroom just so he could stop sitting in the quiet office. When Hermann reappeared in the doorway Newt was doodling on his arm with a pen he found in the bottom of his backpack. Hermann’s mouth made a sad _o_ when he saw him.

“Newton, you didn’t have to wait for me. Won’t you miss your appointment?” Newt grinned toothily.

“Nah, I rescheduled. Really made my artist’s day too.” He wiggled his phone out of his pocket and shook it in the air. “I was her last session of the day, so she got to go home early.” He followed Hermann up to the desk this time and hovered next to him while he signed some forms.

“You really didn’t have to,” Hermann said as they walked to the exit. Newt shrugged.

“Maybe I wanted to,” he said. He pulled the door open and held it for Hermann to walk through.

Their trip back to the lobby was weirdly quiet. Not entirely uncomfortable, but Newt still found himself full of restless energy. He wanted to say something but he didn’t know how to interpret Hermann’s silence. Was it weird that he had stayed? Did Hermann think it was weird? Bad weird or endearing weird? Newt was just taking a breath to say something when Hermann stopped in front of the glass doors.

“Thank you for staying Newton. It was very kind of you and I appreciate it.” He stared hard at the steel handle as he spoke. Newt felt a smile move his whole face.

“No problem Hermann,” he said, a bit softer than he meant to. Hermann nodded to himself again before he pulled the door open and walked outside.

Newt told Hermann the plots of several more monster movies as they meandered down the sidewalk. Newt noticed that Hermann was slowing his pace to match Newt’s. They passed by a coffee shop with little desserts in the window and Newt stopped. He looked between Hermann and the window.

“You want some coffee?” He asked.

“Oh, I don’t drink coffee,” Hermann said, sounding apologetic. Newt grinned.

“Neither do I.”

“Oh?” Hermann asked. Then, “ _Oh!_ Well. That would be very agreeable then.” He nodded slightly. “Yes. I’d love to ‘get coffee’ Newton.” Newt smiled at the blush he could see creeping up Hermann’s neck.

“Maybe after ‘coffee’ you can come with me when I get the rest of my tattoos. If you decide on Boston that is,” Newt said as they continued down the street.

 “You’re getting more tattoos?” Hermann asked.

“Oh definitely. I wanna get all the classic kaiju.” Newt couldn’t stop grinning. He would take Hermann to the little sub shop he liked close to his apartment, and he would ask Hermann for his number when they had to part ways. He might even brush a kiss over Hermann’s bloody knuckles before he turned to head home. And he would send Hermann a text a reasonable amount of time after they separated, and it would have a normal amount of emojis in it.

Hermann brushed his hand with Newt’s as they rounded a corner. He apologized quietly but he didn’t move away. Newt hooked their pinkies together without even thinking about it and Hermann’s ears turned red. Newt liked noticing things about Hermann. He hoped he’d be able to notice a lot more.

**Author's Note:**

> that "Oh? Oh!" bit toward the end was 100% inspired by the end of marias new fic (Ravished By the Vampire Highwayman) which u should ALL READ cuz its AMAZING


End file.
